A Little More Bear-able
by benjji2795
Summary: Connor is going away for three weeks, and Mariana hatches the perfect plan for the boys to give each other a little something before Connor leaves.


Connor was going away for three weeks. Three whole weeks! Jude wasn't exactly sure how he was going to survive without his boyfriend for that long.

"Connor is leaving for three weeks Mariana, how am I going to survive with out him?" Jude asked, flopping onto Mariana's bed.

"I think a better question is, how is he going to survive without you?" Mariana responded. Jude turned his head to look at her.

"You're probably right. Do you think I should give him something before he leaves?"

"Maybe. What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know Mariana, what do you think I should give him? You think like one of my sweatshirts would be something thoughtful enough? You know since it like smells like me or something?" Mariana just stared at him. "I don't know that's the best idea I've got."

"You've got to be kidding me Jude right? No way that's what you're going to give Connor when he's going away for _three weeks_. Obviously I've got to come up with something since you have no idea what you're doing here." Mariana said, giving Jude a playful shove. She already had the perfect idea in mind. "Now go, I'll let you know in twenty minutes what ideas I have."

As soon as Jude was out of the room, Mariana picked up her phone and called Connor (she had gotten his number out of Jude's phone, you know, for emergencies such as this).

"Hello, who is this?" Connor said, answering the phone.

"Hey Connor, its Mariana."

"Mariana? Is something wrong? What's going on?" Connor asked, very concerned.

"No Connor, nothing's wrong, I just wanted to see if you'd be in doing something for Jude before you go away."

"What kind of something would I be doing?"

"Okay so you know Jude's really going to miss you while you're gone. Well so what I was thinking was that you should totally get him like a stuffed animal or something that he can cuddle with while you're gone. Maybe like go to Build-A-Bear and make him one that kinda looks like you?" Mariana explained. "Go like today or tomorrow so you can sleep with it for a couple nights so it like smells like you or something like that and then give it to him when you leave."

"Mariana, that sounds like a genius idea!" Connor exclaimed excitedly.

"Of course it does since I'm kind of a genius." Mariana replied, but Connor had already hung up, rushing off to get started.

 **20 minutes later**

"How does Connor feel about teddy bears?" Mariana asked quickly as she bounded into Jude's room.

"I mean he's got a couple stuffed animals in his closet that he still sleeps with sometimes." Jude answered.

"Okay perfect, so what I was thinking is that you and I should go to Build-A-Bear tomorrow and make Connor a bear that looks like you. You know so that even though he can't cuddle with you, he's got a piece of you he can cuddle with." Mariana said, conveniently leaving out that Connor would be doing the same thing. Jude smiled as she outlined her plan, thinking that this was just the perfect idea.

"I think that this is really cool Mariana. But why should we wait until tomorrow?"

"Oh, well I suppose we could go today. But don't you want some time to think about how you want to design your bear for Connor? Make sure it's just right?" Mariana replied, almost too quickly, trying to cover for the fact that Connor was probably on his way there right now. She didn't want them running into each other, it would kind of ruin the surprise. Jude grabbed a notebook and a pen, beginning to scribble down ideas of what his bear would look like.

"Okay, so tomorrow." he said absentmindedly, already focused on designing the perfect teddy bear for Connor.

Connor hadn't even bothered to hear the rest of what Mariana said, immediately hanging up and running to the garage to get his bike. This was just about the cutest thing he could think about doing for Jude, and he just couldn't wait for one second longer to get started.

"Hello, welcome to Build-A-Bear, how can I help you?" a woman said cheerfully as Connor ran into the store, breathless from his ride over.

"Yeah, I wanted to make a bear for my boyfriend, you know, one that kind of looks like me? I'm going away for a while and I want to give him something that reminds him of me." Connor said shyly to the woman. She just smiled.

"We get this all the time. Why don't you come with me, I can help you get started." Connor followed the woman, and as they walked Connor just couldn't help but get excited.

"So were you thinking you wanted to stick with the basic design, or do something a little different or unusual?" the woman (who Connor noticed her nametag said Sarah) asked.

"Umm."

"How about we just stick with the basics here? Can't go wrong with that." she suggested, so Connor agreed, feeling a little nervous. He maybe should've taken a moment to think this all through first before he rushed over here. Almost as if she could sense this, Sarah added: "I'm sure he's going to love it however it turns out."

"Okay so the first thing we're going to do before stuffing the bear is I'm going to give you this." She said, handing Connor a small felt heart. "We kind of have this thing where you can rub it against your heart to fill it with love, or against your head for good memories. You then put it in the bear and-" Connor didn't wait for her to finish, taking the heart and rubbing it against his chest, placing a small kiss on the heart as well before handing it to Sarah. She took it, putting it in the bear and placing a small amount of stuffing in it.

"Did you want to put a little voice thing in there? Give him a little message that he can hear while you're gone?" Connor nodded quickly, taking a little box from the shelf.

"I love you Jude." Connor said into the box, knowing that was the perfect message to leave Jude. What other message was there, really? The rest of his time in the store was uneventful, as all that was left was to dress the bear. He picked out a plaid shirt (even though he had, for the most part, stopped wearing plaid shirts), and then hugging the bear tightly, took it up to the front to pay for it.

"This boyfriend must be someone very special." Sarah asked, noting Connor's behavior towards the bear.

"Yeah he is. I don't know how I'm going to survive without him for three weeks."

"Well I'm sure he has something in mind for you just as special as this bear." she said gently, smiling at Connor. Connor grinned, knowing that Jude probably already had something really incredible in mind.

"Do you guys have unicorn bears?" Jude asked nervously as he walked into the store the next day (Sarah was still there).

"Yes we do! What were you thinking about with that?" she asked.

"Well my boyfriend is going away for a couple weeks and I was trying to come up with something that was well, me. And one of my nicknames is Judicorn…" Jude explained. Sarah put up her hand.

"Say no more, I know exactly what to do here." She said, grinning. She had a feeling that this was the boyfriend that the other boy that was in yesterday was making a bear for, and she knew exactly what to do, guiding Jude through the process much in the same way she did Connor. Jude did the same thing to his heart that Connor did, also leaving exactly the same voice message for Connor. He dressed the bear in a green t-shirt, one that was eerily similar to the shirt Jude was wearing on the day they kissed in his bedroom. Jude took the bear, running off to meet Connor at the food court in the mall where the store was located.

"Hey Jude—what's that?" Connor said, standing up and giving Jude a hug as he walked up to the table.

"Oh, it's um, something that I made for you before you go away." Jude said nervously.

"That's funny Jude, because I have something I made for you before I go away." Connor replied with a chuckle, picking up a box that looked the same as the one Jude was holding. "Mariana set this up, didn't she?"

"It appears so."

"Well any way, here you go Jude." Connor said, handing the box to Jude, who quickly opened it, his eyes going wide.

"Oh my god Connor, it looks just like you!" Jude exclaimed, pulling out the bear and squeezing it tightly to his chest, accidentally activating the recording.

"I love you Jude." Jude felt a tear fall down his cheek. He shouldn't be this emotional, but this was so perfect. Even though Connor was going away, he'd have a piece of Connor with him the whole time.

"I love it Connor. Thank you so much." Jude said, throwing his arms around Connor and giving him a gentle kiss.

"Wait Jude, can I see mine now?" Connor said excitedly. Jude gave him the box, and Connor opened it, staring at the bear, confused for a moment.

"It's the official Judicorn teddy bear." Jude explained quietly, Connor's eyes lighting up as he did.

"The Judicorn." He said softly with a smile. "It's perfect." Feeling a box inside the bear much like the one he put in his, Connor squeezed it, listening to the message Jude left him.

"I love you Connor." Now it was Connor's turn to cry. Nothing could actually replace having Jude at his side, but this was pretty close.

"Remind me to give Mariana a huge hug the next time I see her." Connor said.

"I will." Jude said grinning, still tightly gripping the teddy bear. "Hey Connor, I know this is a baseball camp and all and—and if you're worried about the guys making fun of you or whatever…"

"Jude, I don't think I can tell you just how little I care about what they think." Connor answered, cutting Jude off firmly.

"Okay. I love you Connor, thank you so much."

"I love you too Jude."

For the next three weeks, neither one slept without their bear. The guys at Connor's camp thought that it was the most adorable thing, and Jude carried his around with him everywhere in the house, cuddling with it every chance he had. The bears made missing each other just a little more bearable (pun totally intended).


End file.
